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Wendy’s is being applauded by the Humane Society of the United States for requiring quarterly progress reports from its hog suppliers as they gradually move away from use of gestation stalls.

The industry practice confines pregnant and nursing sows to stalls that, the society says, prevent them from turning around or taking a step backward or forward.

“We appreciate that Wendy’s and other food companies are walking the walk when it comes to their commitments to eliminate a cruel system that’s simply out of step with how people think animals ought to be treated,” Josh Balk, the society’s director of food policy, said in a statement. “There’s clearly no future for gestation crates in pork production.”

In 2007, Wendy’s started giving preferential buying to suppliers that adopted plans to phase out gestation stalls, according to the company’s website. “As a result, a steadily increasing portion of our pork supply has come from hogs not raised in gestation stalls,” the company said on its animal-welfare program Web page.

And in 2012, Wendy’s “committed to the elimination of gestation stalls by our pork suppliers by 2022,” spokesman Bob Bertini said in an email.

Many fast-food chains have adopted animal-protection requirements for suppliers as part of their corporate responsibilities, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a restaurant- and food-research firm in Chicago.